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Celine Dion hits rarefied mark with 1,000th show at Caesars Palace

Behind the power of love that is the Celine Dion experience, we offer statistical data:

One thousand shows at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, the 1,000th performed Saturday night in front of a joyous full house of 4,200.

Four million fans entertained at that same venue, over a 13-year stretch.

And, the number 14. This stat came into play, unexpectedly, as Dion spoke to her fans at the top of the show.

“I am the last of 14 children, and I am known as the accident,” Dion said, eliciting laughs from the audience. “My father wanted no children. Zero to 14? We can see who was wearing the pants in this family. It was not my father.”

Comfortable as always in getting personal with her audience, Dion was in elevated spirits for No. 1,000, a decided contrast to her return show in February, her first performance after the death of her husband, Rene Angelil, a month earlier. That heavy and powerful show left nearly the entire audience in tears.

But Saturday was more an ebullient celebration, as Dion joked, “One thousand shows? I don’t feel that old!” And said the moment she feels she has mastered the craft, “I grip the microphone too tight, or trip on my dress.”

She mentioned Angelil frequently as the man with the vision behind the Colosseum residency. During the scat section of Ella Fitzgerald’s “(If You Can’t Sing It), You’ll Have to Swing It,” she said, “This is for Rene.”

Musical highlights abounded. “All By Myself,” ascending to full roar, brought the crowd to its feet. She unveiled a soft cover of Pink’s “Recovering,” grooved to great effect on “Kiss” and “River Deep, Mountain High,” sang in duet with the video version of The Bee Gees on “We Don’t Say Goodbye,” and finished with the two-shot combo of “My Heart Will Go On” (wrapped in a sheet of simulated rain) and Queen’s “The Show Must Go On.”

At the end of that number, the audience stood a final time. The number of standing ovations was seven, for the woman who continues to build her endless collection of memories at Caesars Palace.

ANGEL SOARS

We’ve seen Criss Angel throw a charge into a charity event before. At least I have, when the Luxor headliner turned up at the St. Baldrick’s Shave-A-Thon at McMullan’s Irish Pub in March and offered $100,000 to shave my head. The offer was readily accepted, and the place went nuts as Angel worked the clippers.

Angel cut loose the purse strings once more Friday night at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, during Circus Couture’s seventh annual fundraiser, titled “Lucky,” for the Children’s Specialty Center of Nevada. Up for bid in the live auction was an art piece titled “The Family Tree,” dedicated to the late Avery Driscoll, the face of St. Baldrick’s who died at age 13 of Pilocytic Astrocytoma in June.

Auctioneer Christian Kolberg started the bidding at $1,000 and seemed to stall at $5,000. “Seventy-five hundred? Anyone?” he called out. Seated in the audience, Angel shouted, “One-hundred thousand!”

He won.

Angel then took the mic and announced two additional donations of $100,000 to St. Baldrick’s in Avery’s honor, and another $100,000 directly to Circus Couture. That sum pushed the seven-year total raised by the event to more than $1 million.

THE DOUMANI FACTOR

The death of Ed Doumani on Sept. 28 at age 80 of ocular melanoma reminds of the long and considerable impact his family has had on real-estate development in Las Vegas. Along with his father, M.K., and brother, Fred, opened La Concha and El Morocco on the Strip in the early and mid-1960s. Ed was an investment partner with Steve Wynn in the hotel expansion at the Golden Nugget, and Ed and Fred also operated Tropicana in the mid-1970s.

Ed’s son Lorenzo continues the family tradition of investment on (or, very near) the Strip. He remains the owner of the property on which the Clarion Hotel Casino once stood on Convention Center Drive, just north of Wynn/Encore and south of the Las Vegas Convention Center parking lot. In February 2015, Doumani ordered up a demolition of the Clarion. The hotel opened in 1970 as Royal Inn. The 202-room hotel was later named Royal Americana, the Paddlewheel, the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Hotel (under her stewardship), Greek Isles and its final incarnation as Clarion.

Doumani has talked of building a lavish, nongaming resort on that property, but has not ordered any construction since the implosion. He’s waiting on the proposed expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center on the old Riviera site (to be reviewed by the state Legislature in a special session beginning Monday) , the development of Resorts World Las Vegas on the west side of the Strip, and also Steve Wynn’s announced plans for his Wynn Paradise Park development behind Wynn and Encore .

Doumani said during a phone conversation Saturday that he won’t plan on opening on that site until at least six months after Resorts World opens, and the $4 billion, 3,000-room resort won’t be finished until 2019. “I’m sandwiched between all these projects that are in development, but I do want to build a resort on that site that is unique and nothing like we’ve seen in Las Vegas.” It’s just a matter of when.

John Katsilometes’ column runs Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in the A section, and Fridays in Neon. He also hosts “Kats! On The Radio” Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM and appears Wednesdays at 11 a.m. with Dayna Roselli on KTNV Channel 13. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.

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